Musings on Culture Shock from a Brit in California

Last week we did the tour of Alcatraz with some friends who were visiting from out of town. There is an excellent audio tour, but I was a little perturbed by the board with instructions at the start. It showed information in various languages. Each section had a flag to illustrate the language, the flag of France for French etc. In the case of Portuguese, there were two flags – the Brazilian and Portuguese flags. The Mexican and Spanish flags were also paired up, as were those for the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan.

There was but a single flag for the English language section. No British flag sat aside the Stars and Stripes. Anti-British discrimination at its worst.

I took French in school and failed it miserably. I lived in Portugal for over two years and whilst I picked up a wide vocabulary of useful nouns, I never grasped the language.

No one ever mistakes me for a local here. I still pronounce words like router, beta, and garage correctly and not the American way. I have changed my spelling in documents I write at work, dropping ‘U’ from assorted words and reversing ‘E’ and ‘R’.

In comparison with my lack of foreign languages, I am comfortable with assorted computer languages.

BASIC (Assorted dialects)COBOLRPGC#RubyObjective-C

On Monday, Apple announced a new language for programming Macs, iPhones, and iPads. I have taken learning that language. I am recording my experiences and observations in a blog. Since I do not imagine that those who read this blog have an interest in the details of Generics and other such topics, I have created a new blog.

On Memorial Day we met up with a couple of friends for lunch at a restaurant in Pleasant Hill. I enjoyed the meal, despite an initial impression caused by the cocktail menu. A single item managed to have four errors in its description.

The Classic Martini item is a travesty against all that is proper in the world. A classic Martini is made with Gin and not Vodka. A classic Martini is stirred, not shaken. A classic Martini should have an odd number of olives. A classic Martini should have Vermouth, otherwise it is neat Gin or in the case of this abomination Vodka.

Fortunately, the description of the Sazerac was far more in line with what I would expect. The Rye used is well regarded, although not one I had previously tried. I would have preferred if the bitters and Absinthe were identified, but I went ahead and ordered it. It was well balanced and went some way to placating the pedantic rage that was burning within.

Blogroll

About Me

I am a British subject born in 1965, the year that Winston Churchill died. I believe that the climate should be cold and the beer warm. At the less then tender age of 41 I have moved to California. This blog consists of my musings on the resulting culture shock.